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Senate committee authorizes money for mission to Mars

Going to Mars would be the law of the land under a measure passed by a key U.S. Senate committee – one that has vast impact on thousands of Central Floridians

Senate committee authorizes money for mission to Mars

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Updated: 6:40 PM EDT Sep 22, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

Going to Mars would be the law of the land under a measure passed by a key U.S. Senate committee – one that has vast impact on thousands of Central Floridians.

Around 7,500 people are already working toward the goal at the Kennedy Space Center.

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“We are going to Mars,” said Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.

From a fiery test of a new generation of huge booster rockets, to the addition of new platforms in the vehicle assembly building, to the re-making of NASA’s main launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, the space agency is on a road that the Senate committee controlling spaceflight wants it to stay on.

In 2010, when President Obama announced Mars as a goal, he scrapped the moon program and set back spaceflight a few years to reorganize. Senators don’t want that to happen again when a new president takes office. So they’ve voted to make a mission to Mars a part of U.S. law, hoping the next president won’t change it.

The full Senate is expected to pass the measure, and optimism is high it’ll be sent to the President’s desk.

“It’s getting busier and busier by the day,” said NASA spokesman Mike Curie, referring to Mars-related activity at the Kennedy Space Center.

Going to Mars means building and launching the largest rocket in history. Work is underway inside the VAB. A visitor on Thursday could see a mockup of a service module intended to be attached to the Orion spacecraft. Astronauts would begin the Mars journey aboard Orion, launched on a mega-rocket known as the Space Launch System.

The first unmanned test launch of the huge super-rocket is at least two years away.

“That’s going to be a big rocket and a big day around here,” said Curie. “We’re going to be ready.”

But the U.S. won’t be ready to send humans to Mars until the 2030’s. That’s if the next president and Congress don’t change the proposed law.